The title of this blog, Leading Blended Learning, came out of a deeply held desire to change the way school looks and feels for kids in my district. It came from a place where I looked at what school was offering and realized that the phenomenal teachers and leaders at each of our 51 campuses had the capacity to give kids more than what we were giving them. We could challenge them to be great and they would rise to it. I have spent the better part of the last ten years trying to figure out how to lead an authentic shift from good enough to amazing. Its not so much about wanting our district to have national exposure, or to be the best in show across the State of Georgia, but rather its about making sure that those kids that I met in my office as a middle school principal who had a twinkle in their eyes could see a future where they made it happen.
I look at the community that I have adopted as my own, after 15 years and having left and returned, it is my hometown now and I see tremendous intellect, strength of spirit, and ingenuity. I see compassion, dedication, and work ethic. I see possibilities. But, I also see self imposed limitations. I see hoops and rules and low expectations. I see bias and hear way too many "bless your hearts." So many of the young people in our community don't believe that they have the power to change not only their world, but the grander world that is at their fingertips. We are now globally competitive, but so limited in global awareness. We can see video of a conflict in a country 2500 miles away and espouse solutions, but seem to be willing to look deeply at the conflict in front of us that limits our impact. We want to protect our kids from the harsh realities of the world, without realizing that those same arms that hug and protect also stunt and limit growth and opportunity.
A wise advisor always said you got to start, and end, with the why. People have to know and see and feel and believe in the vision of the future that is better than the world they believe they exist in day to day. They don't have to understand it deeply, commit to it passionately, or even necessarily agree with it... but they have to be able to see it. Leadership towards this requires time, conversation, commitment, clarity, understanding, and steadfast focus. It requires meaningful interactions, engaging dialogue, and courage.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Monday, March 3, 2014
Personalized Learning Tenets - Learner Profiles
It is my deeply held belief that school really should be about preparing kids for life, but not just in the traditional liberal arts view of exposing them to deep thinking and the power of learning and not just in the current fashion of economic preparedness that focuses on creating workers. American public school should operate as an equalizer, giving all kids the opportunity to better themselves, to create their own world of opportunity, to open doors for them. It should do so by giving kids learning experiences that are personal and common, customized and shared, unique and collaborative all at the same time. After thirteen years in school, our students should come out ready to greet the world with inquisitiveness, with an entrepreneurial and innovative spirit, with a deep sense of inner creativity and a connection to the world that is both emotional and intellectual. Kids should leave our high schools as young adults with a vision for the world and a dream for their own experience of that world.
Our district has been deeply diving into what personalized learning means for us and for the future of school for our students, teachers, parents, and community. For us, the definition of personalized learning really revolves around the tenets you see in the graphic below. I will be doing a series of five blogs postings talking about each one these tenets.
Each one of the tenets are essential to providing kids with a high quality, rigorous, and meaningful school experience that prepares them to be successful citizens and all around cool people. We believe that the tenets of personalized learning are the tools/processes/mindsets necessary to design school to prepare kids to be awesome college and career ready graduates.
Learner Profiles:
For us, a learner profile is the foundation of relationships with kids. Kids learn best when they have strong relationships with caring adults. A learner profile is one way to ensure that teachers know about their kids. They need to know academic background, behavior background, attendance background. They need to know about skills gaps and areas of deficiency. Teachers need to know about areas of strength and aptitude where kids excel. Teachers need to know about what kids find interesting, where they have ability, and what they can do. It needs to include a portfolio of student work as well. This can be housed in a profile that kids, parents, and teachers can see and monitor and use. This needs to be an easily accessible, intuitive, and focused platform that integrates information from a variety of places into one dashboard.
We see the learner profile also including a personalized learning plan that is co-created and monitored by teachers, students, and parents. This PLP serves as a place to plan and track learning for the student towards demonstration of mastery of high school and beyond. The tool for the PLP should be able to list the competencies and courses kids need to complete based on their plan and have a consistently updated progress monitor of that progress toward mastery. This is where kids take ownership, responsibility, and an active role in their own education.
The Learner Profile is more than a piece of software. The PLP is more than a set of aspirations. The two tools work in concert to provide student voice, autonomy, and purpose to the educational process and act of doing school for kids and parents. This is a radical shift from doing school TO kids and instead engaging in learning WITH kids.
Check out more at www.henry.k12.ga.us/personalizedlearning
Our district has been deeply diving into what personalized learning means for us and for the future of school for our students, teachers, parents, and community. For us, the definition of personalized learning really revolves around the tenets you see in the graphic below. I will be doing a series of five blogs postings talking about each one these tenets.
Each one of the tenets are essential to providing kids with a high quality, rigorous, and meaningful school experience that prepares them to be successful citizens and all around cool people. We believe that the tenets of personalized learning are the tools/processes/mindsets necessary to design school to prepare kids to be awesome college and career ready graduates.
Learner Profiles:
For us, a learner profile is the foundation of relationships with kids. Kids learn best when they have strong relationships with caring adults. A learner profile is one way to ensure that teachers know about their kids. They need to know academic background, behavior background, attendance background. They need to know about skills gaps and areas of deficiency. Teachers need to know about areas of strength and aptitude where kids excel. Teachers need to know about what kids find interesting, where they have ability, and what they can do. It needs to include a portfolio of student work as well. This can be housed in a profile that kids, parents, and teachers can see and monitor and use. This needs to be an easily accessible, intuitive, and focused platform that integrates information from a variety of places into one dashboard.
We see the learner profile also including a personalized learning plan that is co-created and monitored by teachers, students, and parents. This PLP serves as a place to plan and track learning for the student towards demonstration of mastery of high school and beyond. The tool for the PLP should be able to list the competencies and courses kids need to complete based on their plan and have a consistently updated progress monitor of that progress toward mastery. This is where kids take ownership, responsibility, and an active role in their own education.
The Learner Profile is more than a piece of software. The PLP is more than a set of aspirations. The two tools work in concert to provide student voice, autonomy, and purpose to the educational process and act of doing school for kids and parents. This is a radical shift from doing school TO kids and instead engaging in learning WITH kids.
Check out more at www.henry.k12.ga.us/personalizedlearning
Saturday, January 4, 2014
The teachers do all the talking....
This year my family has hosted a foreign exchange student from Europe. It has been a phenomenal learning experience for all of us. As I talk with her and a few of the other exchange students that sometimes come around, I ask them about school and particularly about their American High School experience versus their experiences in Europe. Resoundingly, they all talk about how boring school and classes are here in Georgia. They talk about being challenged only by their mastery of English and not by the classes or instructional model. In all fairness, they are only talking about a dozen teachers' classrooms that they have been in as students. Most telling is probably an offhanded commented I heard two of them share with each other when we were driving in the car.
"The teachers here in America do all the talking."
It struck me that as I looked back on my high school experience as a student, as a student teacher, and as an observer over the past 20 years, that it is pretty much the case that in most classrooms in most schools, the teachers are doing all the talking in class time. Our district is engaged in work to become a personalized learning district, a place where education and instruction are focused on students getting what they need, when they need it, and how they need it. It is fairly simple term for a mightily complex shift in the design and operation of public education. As our team thinks about the challenges ahead of us in shifting our entire district's focus from teacher to student, its evident that the largest change is going to be moving our administrators and teachers to a place where the job of teacher is not defined by how much one talks in front of a group of students.
This isn't new though. The idea that education should be learner-centric, that teachers should be problem posers and providers of feedback and not givers of knowledge, that coursework should be built around clear end goals that students meet with mastery, the idea that different kids need different supports and paths through the curriculum. Really, none of these ideas are new ones to those educators that have read an education publication in the last half century. One could argue that these are ideas that John Dewey espoused a century ago in Democracy and Education.
The core of this fundamental shift for an entire district is to get everyone in consensus that our schools exist and have as a primary and ultimate purpose ensuring student demonstration of mastery of skills and knowledge. We have recently added to this the idea of college and career readiness to better define those skills and knowledge that students will demonstrate mastery of in their dozen years in K-12. In order to allow all students to demonstrate mastery, in its simplest form, the students need to be doing all the talking. This is the fundamental shift in school operations that will be so challenging.
"The teachers here in America do all the talking."
It struck me that as I looked back on my high school experience as a student, as a student teacher, and as an observer over the past 20 years, that it is pretty much the case that in most classrooms in most schools, the teachers are doing all the talking in class time. Our district is engaged in work to become a personalized learning district, a place where education and instruction are focused on students getting what they need, when they need it, and how they need it. It is fairly simple term for a mightily complex shift in the design and operation of public education. As our team thinks about the challenges ahead of us in shifting our entire district's focus from teacher to student, its evident that the largest change is going to be moving our administrators and teachers to a place where the job of teacher is not defined by how much one talks in front of a group of students.
This isn't new though. The idea that education should be learner-centric, that teachers should be problem posers and providers of feedback and not givers of knowledge, that coursework should be built around clear end goals that students meet with mastery, the idea that different kids need different supports and paths through the curriculum. Really, none of these ideas are new ones to those educators that have read an education publication in the last half century. One could argue that these are ideas that John Dewey espoused a century ago in Democracy and Education.
The core of this fundamental shift for an entire district is to get everyone in consensus that our schools exist and have as a primary and ultimate purpose ensuring student demonstration of mastery of skills and knowledge. We have recently added to this the idea of college and career readiness to better define those skills and knowledge that students will demonstrate mastery of in their dozen years in K-12. In order to allow all students to demonstrate mastery, in its simplest form, the students need to be doing all the talking. This is the fundamental shift in school operations that will be so challenging.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Assessments and Teacher Evaluations
This week, our district has about 50 professional educators (teachers) working on redeveloping the Student Learning Objective Assessments that are required as a part of Georgia's Race to the Top grant. Our evaluation system, TKES, will have about 40% of the evaluation based on student growth. We will be using standardized tests for those teaching tested subject grads. In GA, that means Math, ELA, social studies, and science in grades 4-8 and 8 different End-of-Course Tests in high school. Everyone else who teaches is going to have to have a pre/post test that is developed under the direction of state DOE guidance, but directed and created by districts. The SLO assessment process has been a challenge because we are trying to serve two masters with the assessments.
First, we are trying to serve the need of the evaluation instrument to have a measure of student learning over the course of the school year. This presents a number of important considerations around validity and reliability of the assessments. Although there is a fairly rigorous process in place to attempt to ensure this, there is no item analysis, distractor analysis, or other psycometric evaluation of the assessment items after they have been administered. We try very hard to train teachers in two or three days on how to construct good test items, but there are still questions as to value of the data as an accurate measure of student growth over the year. This is in stark contrast to the "tested" subjects that have industry created and vetted items used with huge sets of data and field testing of each item and teams of trained psycometricians ensuring the items are valid and reliable. Both the "tested" and "non-tested" growth models impact Teacher Evaluation in the same manner.
The second master we want to serve with pre/post assessments is the instructional work of teachers in the classrooms. There is significant research supporting the value of pre-assessments and subsequent instructional decision making based on the data that comes back from the pre-assessments. However, the value of this type of work tends to be more helpful at the unit or lesson level and is signficantly less impactful at the course level. We can determine what students know or don't know about course content, yes, but when you are attempting to do a survey of all the knowledge and skills learned in a Chemistry I course when students come in with little chemistry background, the test is limited in what it offers as meaningful data for the teacher. Thus, the SLO assessments are limited in their ability to inform instructioanl decisions on the fly or after the initial work in the first month of school.
This data problem is a frustration for teachers and administrators alike. We are once again taking at least 2 days of instruction to collect "autopsy" data that in theory could guide instruction, but in practice is limiting in what it offers for teachers in the classroom. Not only are we taking that instructional time away, but we have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in "professional learing" around building these SLO assessments. There is value in exposing teachers to Webb's Depth of Knowledge and how to use it to evaluate standards and assessment items to match and there is value in training teachers in what makes good assessments. But that value is limited in its scope and influence because it is focused on SLO assessment development and not on an overall assessment plan/vision that impacts instruction for all kids from day to day.
The challenge continues to be how to effectively evaluate the impact of an individual teacher on student achievement and how to isolate their impact away from all other factors that impact student learning. We all agree great teachers have significant impact on student learning, but being able to quantify that impact in a fair and reliable way is very difficult and complex work.
First, we are trying to serve the need of the evaluation instrument to have a measure of student learning over the course of the school year. This presents a number of important considerations around validity and reliability of the assessments. Although there is a fairly rigorous process in place to attempt to ensure this, there is no item analysis, distractor analysis, or other psycometric evaluation of the assessment items after they have been administered. We try very hard to train teachers in two or three days on how to construct good test items, but there are still questions as to value of the data as an accurate measure of student growth over the year. This is in stark contrast to the "tested" subjects that have industry created and vetted items used with huge sets of data and field testing of each item and teams of trained psycometricians ensuring the items are valid and reliable. Both the "tested" and "non-tested" growth models impact Teacher Evaluation in the same manner.
The second master we want to serve with pre/post assessments is the instructional work of teachers in the classrooms. There is significant research supporting the value of pre-assessments and subsequent instructional decision making based on the data that comes back from the pre-assessments. However, the value of this type of work tends to be more helpful at the unit or lesson level and is signficantly less impactful at the course level. We can determine what students know or don't know about course content, yes, but when you are attempting to do a survey of all the knowledge and skills learned in a Chemistry I course when students come in with little chemistry background, the test is limited in what it offers as meaningful data for the teacher. Thus, the SLO assessments are limited in their ability to inform instructioanl decisions on the fly or after the initial work in the first month of school.
This data problem is a frustration for teachers and administrators alike. We are once again taking at least 2 days of instruction to collect "autopsy" data that in theory could guide instruction, but in practice is limiting in what it offers for teachers in the classroom. Not only are we taking that instructional time away, but we have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in "professional learing" around building these SLO assessments. There is value in exposing teachers to Webb's Depth of Knowledge and how to use it to evaluate standards and assessment items to match and there is value in training teachers in what makes good assessments. But that value is limited in its scope and influence because it is focused on SLO assessment development and not on an overall assessment plan/vision that impacts instruction for all kids from day to day.
The challenge continues to be how to effectively evaluate the impact of an individual teacher on student achievement and how to isolate their impact away from all other factors that impact student learning. We all agree great teachers have significant impact on student learning, but being able to quantify that impact in a fair and reliable way is very difficult and complex work.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Twitter's Influence On Me
Public schooling as a career is still pretty isolationist, in the sense that teachers can still close their doors and do their own thing with only students and an occasional parent to interrupt the flow of teaching. As long as you make it appear kids are learning and don't do anything that will get you in the 24 hour news feed, its all good. School administrators can filter those who get to see them or get to talk to them or get to influence them and largely keep control over their schools with only the occasional interference from a central office lackey or parent or intrusive state official every once in while. As long as you appear to keep good discipline numbers and make it appear teachers are teaching, its all good. The status quo is acceptable because its what "people" have come to expect.
Of course, the vast majority of educators are working hard to make sure the children entrusted to them by an unwritten social contract get world class educational experiences. But, so many are doing it in isolation because it is not seen as an effective use of public dollars for teachers and administrators to learn about their craft and get better at it through professional learning, professional conferences, or professional dialogue while on the clock. The common perception is that if you aren't in front of students, you aren't doing the job of a teacher. If you aren't with students or observing your teachers, you aren't doing the job of a principal.
Most parent surveys or polls of the general populace indicate that public schools are all bad, that is except for the ones MY kid attends. Its not a new thought that because nearly everyone in America has experienced formal schooling on some level and the vast majority have experienced public school, nearly everyone has an opinion and feels entitled to declare what schooling should or shouldn't be. It makes it difficult to engage in meaningful, knowledgeable, evidence based discussions about what's best practice in teaching and learning. Folks who wouldn't dare offer an opinion on how to write a legal brief or suggest how to lay out a business plan for a loan don't think twice about expressing how to "fix" public education. This is an oft-lamented point on the edublogs and teacher sites across cyberspace.
In light of these three points, its easy to understand why highly educated professional educators keep to themselves and keep doing the best that they know how for the kids entrusted to them. But, social media is changing the landscape for educators both from a professional standpoint and from and instructional standpoint. Twitter has become an extended personal learning network for many professional educators. The micro-blogging space has created the opportunity for educators to engage in any number of chats at specific times each week where they get together with complete strangers to discuss something completely essential to their being as people and professionals. Its created for me an opportunity to engage in discussions with other educators about topics that are meaningful in my day to day work, but also on a deeper philosophical basis. From exploring the power of social media, to the best ways to use formative assessment, to how to be an effective principal the conversations are as diverse as those engaging in them. Its is powerful to hear that the work we do in Georgia in our district can be both informed by and informative to the work being done in New Jersey, Wisconsin, Kansas, Texas, Rhode Island, and California. Not only that, but a good many of the chats are done at convenient times when kids are in bed, families are settled in and the few minutes of solace that educators can grab to think about their work can be shared with others from the convenience of a smartphone, mobile device, or computer. My PLN has inspired me to keep digging in and working for the right things for kids and for learning. It has helped to invigorate me when I needed it, and center me when I needed it. Its like being in graduate school all over again. Not the parts of graduate school where I was in class or writing papers, but the parts of grad school where I was engaged in profound conversation with intelligent people that cared deeply about the art and science of education and leadership. If you haven't discovered Twitter and created your own PLN, you are missing out.
Of course, the vast majority of educators are working hard to make sure the children entrusted to them by an unwritten social contract get world class educational experiences. But, so many are doing it in isolation because it is not seen as an effective use of public dollars for teachers and administrators to learn about their craft and get better at it through professional learning, professional conferences, or professional dialogue while on the clock. The common perception is that if you aren't in front of students, you aren't doing the job of a teacher. If you aren't with students or observing your teachers, you aren't doing the job of a principal.
Most parent surveys or polls of the general populace indicate that public schools are all bad, that is except for the ones MY kid attends. Its not a new thought that because nearly everyone in America has experienced formal schooling on some level and the vast majority have experienced public school, nearly everyone has an opinion and feels entitled to declare what schooling should or shouldn't be. It makes it difficult to engage in meaningful, knowledgeable, evidence based discussions about what's best practice in teaching and learning. Folks who wouldn't dare offer an opinion on how to write a legal brief or suggest how to lay out a business plan for a loan don't think twice about expressing how to "fix" public education. This is an oft-lamented point on the edublogs and teacher sites across cyberspace.
In light of these three points, its easy to understand why highly educated professional educators keep to themselves and keep doing the best that they know how for the kids entrusted to them. But, social media is changing the landscape for educators both from a professional standpoint and from and instructional standpoint. Twitter has become an extended personal learning network for many professional educators. The micro-blogging space has created the opportunity for educators to engage in any number of chats at specific times each week where they get together with complete strangers to discuss something completely essential to their being as people and professionals. Its created for me an opportunity to engage in discussions with other educators about topics that are meaningful in my day to day work, but also on a deeper philosophical basis. From exploring the power of social media, to the best ways to use formative assessment, to how to be an effective principal the conversations are as diverse as those engaging in them. Its is powerful to hear that the work we do in Georgia in our district can be both informed by and informative to the work being done in New Jersey, Wisconsin, Kansas, Texas, Rhode Island, and California. Not only that, but a good many of the chats are done at convenient times when kids are in bed, families are settled in and the few minutes of solace that educators can grab to think about their work can be shared with others from the convenience of a smartphone, mobile device, or computer. My PLN has inspired me to keep digging in and working for the right things for kids and for learning. It has helped to invigorate me when I needed it, and center me when I needed it. Its like being in graduate school all over again. Not the parts of graduate school where I was in class or writing papers, but the parts of grad school where I was engaged in profound conversation with intelligent people that cared deeply about the art and science of education and leadership. If you haven't discovered Twitter and created your own PLN, you are missing out.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Inspiration at Teacher Induction
Below is the text of the speech I gave at the Teacher Induction Program for new teachers.
This clip by Taylor Mali is one of my favorites. I watch it before the beginning of every school year and it helps focus me on the work that we do to support teachers in our district. Yesterday, you heard from the members of the business community about their strong support for Henry County Schools and for the teachers we have here. Over the course of the past two days, you have heard about the vision to ensure the success for each student. You have learned about your area of curriculum, you have learned about classroom management, and you have learned about the importance of being passionate and engaged in the work you do every day.
As Taylor Mali points out so poignantly in his poem, teachers have with them an incredible level of influence and power to craft the experiences of young people. The vast majority of our Tipsters this year are secondary school teachers. As middle and high school teachers, you have a special and noteworthy challenge in front of you. You may hear some naysayers talk about how kids at 7th or 11th grade are a lost cause because they have already become who they will be. I challenge that supposition and I challenge you to do so early and often. From my own personal experience, the teachers I had in high school are the ones that had the most impact on me because I can remember them challenging me and allowing me to challenge them back intellectually. They helped to push me to find a course through life that would eventually lead me to here. You still have the influence, the power to make or break a child’s spirit.
High School teachers are near to my heart. My wife is a high school teacher here in Henry County. She teaches freshmen at Ola High School and coaches cheer leading. Every day she reminds me that our focus must be on supporting teachers here at the central office. She reminds me of how the decisions we make here, in our role of support those in the classroom, truly impact the work of teachers. I need to tell you a bit about my wife. I think my wife is phenomenal teacher. Not just because she is my wife, but because she is known as one of the toughest teachers at Ola. Kids dread going into her class as freshmen, but all the parents know they should be there. But she’s not a great teacher just because she lesson plans a 9 weeks at a time, she’s not a great teacher because she is the most amazingly efficient and effective grader I have ever seen, (its rare a paper isn’t turned back to a student with comments and entered in the grade book within 24 hours.) She’s not a great teacher just because she pushes kids to do more than they think they are capable of. She is all of those things. But what strikes me each day when she comes home is the stories she tells of how she is worried that her tone of voice or rushed end to a class may have impacted a student negatively. Her attention to those small details exhibit how deeply she cares about those unintentional moments that can so easily be overlooked.
Its not always the intentional things we do that impact students and their ability to be successful. So often, in the course of the day or the course of a semester, it is the unintentional things that we do that make a huge difference to a student. From the time the shy student in your class raised her hand meekly and you didn’t call on her and she never raised her hand again because you didn’t want to hear what she had to say, to the time you responded sharply with sarcasm to an incorrect answer and made a student fear opening his mouth again. Unintentional consequences from mostly harmless actions.
But it cuts both ways. There are the good things that come out of unintentional actions. The time you ask the trouble maker in class to be responsible for clicker that controls your PowerPoint and it pulls him into your lessons for good or the time you use a sample of writing of a student anonymously to demonstrate excellence and that student decides to become an author. Unintentional consequences surround us every day as teachers. Be mindful of the power and influence you have over the minds and spirits you are charged with every day. You have the power to change lives for good or for evil.
Every summer, the administrators from across the district come together for a leadership retreat. This past summer, I told the administrators that we are at a great cross roads in education in Georgia.
With the AYP waiver and the new CCRPI being put in place, with the adoption of the CCGPS, with the implementation of the POINT in Henry County, and with the increased prevalence of technology and the opportunities that new technologies offer we are at a place of great opportunity. We have the opportunity to take hold of educating our kids in ways that are innovative, transformative, and revolutionary. We have an obligation to create a school experience profoundly different from our own experiences for the students that come to our schools on August 6th.
We are doing that with a multitude of programs in Henry County. This year, we are launching Impact Academy, a full time enrollment online program for 8th, 9th, and 10th graders that allows students to take most or all of their coursework online, yet still be a part of their home school for electives like band or FACS or play on the football team. It is program built on flexibility, accessibility and customization that still maintains a high level of rigor for the students.
Here in Henry County High School, we house the Academy for Advanced Studies where students engage in CTAE coursework, dual enrollment coursework with local universities, and where they work to get industry certification to be job ready upon graduation. Next year, we will open the Academy for Advance Studies as a Charter College and Career Academy that will allow all high school students the opportunity to enroll in these programs while maintaining their enrollment at their home school.
Here in Henry County, we have students who graduate from high school in four years and at the same time they received an associate’s degree through our dual enrollment and articulated coursework. They have two years of college paid for and completed as they walk across the stage to receive their high school diploma.
Here in Henry County Schools, we have nationally acclaimed ROTC teams, bands that have traveled the world to play for royalty, and Zell Miller Scholars receiving full ride scholarships to Georgia Tech. We are a district focused on ensuring success for each student and we take that charge seriously.
I shared yesterday that I left Henry County in 2003 to pursue my Master’s degree at Harvard University. Upon graduation, I had the opportunity and choice to go anywhere in the world to make use of that degree. I chose to come back to Henry county because of the school system and the belief that I had then and still hold today that this is a great place to teach and to learn because it continues to get better each day in every classroom. Each year we welcome new teachers to Henry county Schools through TIP and encourage them to make the most of each and every day they have with our students. This year you join the ranks of accomplished educators. As you step into your classroom this year,
I charge you with becoming the best teacher you know. I encourage you to own the title of teacher. I dare you to sculpt your classroom in the image of success and excellence that every child in Henry County deserves. Finally, I challenge you to be miracle worker everyday.
This clip by Taylor Mali is one of my favorites. I watch it before the beginning of every school year and it helps focus me on the work that we do to support teachers in our district. Yesterday, you heard from the members of the business community about their strong support for Henry County Schools and for the teachers we have here. Over the course of the past two days, you have heard about the vision to ensure the success for each student. You have learned about your area of curriculum, you have learned about classroom management, and you have learned about the importance of being passionate and engaged in the work you do every day.
As Taylor Mali points out so poignantly in his poem, teachers have with them an incredible level of influence and power to craft the experiences of young people. The vast majority of our Tipsters this year are secondary school teachers. As middle and high school teachers, you have a special and noteworthy challenge in front of you. You may hear some naysayers talk about how kids at 7th or 11th grade are a lost cause because they have already become who they will be. I challenge that supposition and I challenge you to do so early and often. From my own personal experience, the teachers I had in high school are the ones that had the most impact on me because I can remember them challenging me and allowing me to challenge them back intellectually. They helped to push me to find a course through life that would eventually lead me to here. You still have the influence, the power to make or break a child’s spirit.
High School teachers are near to my heart. My wife is a high school teacher here in Henry County. She teaches freshmen at Ola High School and coaches cheer leading. Every day she reminds me that our focus must be on supporting teachers here at the central office. She reminds me of how the decisions we make here, in our role of support those in the classroom, truly impact the work of teachers. I need to tell you a bit about my wife. I think my wife is phenomenal teacher. Not just because she is my wife, but because she is known as one of the toughest teachers at Ola. Kids dread going into her class as freshmen, but all the parents know they should be there. But she’s not a great teacher just because she lesson plans a 9 weeks at a time, she’s not a great teacher because she is the most amazingly efficient and effective grader I have ever seen, (its rare a paper isn’t turned back to a student with comments and entered in the grade book within 24 hours.) She’s not a great teacher just because she pushes kids to do more than they think they are capable of. She is all of those things. But what strikes me each day when she comes home is the stories she tells of how she is worried that her tone of voice or rushed end to a class may have impacted a student negatively. Her attention to those small details exhibit how deeply she cares about those unintentional moments that can so easily be overlooked.
Its not always the intentional things we do that impact students and their ability to be successful. So often, in the course of the day or the course of a semester, it is the unintentional things that we do that make a huge difference to a student. From the time the shy student in your class raised her hand meekly and you didn’t call on her and she never raised her hand again because you didn’t want to hear what she had to say, to the time you responded sharply with sarcasm to an incorrect answer and made a student fear opening his mouth again. Unintentional consequences from mostly harmless actions.
But it cuts both ways. There are the good things that come out of unintentional actions. The time you ask the trouble maker in class to be responsible for clicker that controls your PowerPoint and it pulls him into your lessons for good or the time you use a sample of writing of a student anonymously to demonstrate excellence and that student decides to become an author. Unintentional consequences surround us every day as teachers. Be mindful of the power and influence you have over the minds and spirits you are charged with every day. You have the power to change lives for good or for evil.
Every summer, the administrators from across the district come together for a leadership retreat. This past summer, I told the administrators that we are at a great cross roads in education in Georgia.
With the AYP waiver and the new CCRPI being put in place, with the adoption of the CCGPS, with the implementation of the POINT in Henry County, and with the increased prevalence of technology and the opportunities that new technologies offer we are at a place of great opportunity. We have the opportunity to take hold of educating our kids in ways that are innovative, transformative, and revolutionary. We have an obligation to create a school experience profoundly different from our own experiences for the students that come to our schools on August 6th.
We are doing that with a multitude of programs in Henry County. This year, we are launching Impact Academy, a full time enrollment online program for 8th, 9th, and 10th graders that allows students to take most or all of their coursework online, yet still be a part of their home school for electives like band or FACS or play on the football team. It is program built on flexibility, accessibility and customization that still maintains a high level of rigor for the students.
Here in Henry County High School, we house the Academy for Advanced Studies where students engage in CTAE coursework, dual enrollment coursework with local universities, and where they work to get industry certification to be job ready upon graduation. Next year, we will open the Academy for Advance Studies as a Charter College and Career Academy that will allow all high school students the opportunity to enroll in these programs while maintaining their enrollment at their home school.
Here in Henry County, we have students who graduate from high school in four years and at the same time they received an associate’s degree through our dual enrollment and articulated coursework. They have two years of college paid for and completed as they walk across the stage to receive their high school diploma.
Here in Henry County Schools, we have nationally acclaimed ROTC teams, bands that have traveled the world to play for royalty, and Zell Miller Scholars receiving full ride scholarships to Georgia Tech. We are a district focused on ensuring success for each student and we take that charge seriously.
I shared yesterday that I left Henry County in 2003 to pursue my Master’s degree at Harvard University. Upon graduation, I had the opportunity and choice to go anywhere in the world to make use of that degree. I chose to come back to Henry county because of the school system and the belief that I had then and still hold today that this is a great place to teach and to learn because it continues to get better each day in every classroom. Each year we welcome new teachers to Henry county Schools through TIP and encourage them to make the most of each and every day they have with our students. This year you join the ranks of accomplished educators. As you step into your classroom this year,
I charge you with becoming the best teacher you know. I encourage you to own the title of teacher. I dare you to sculpt your classroom in the image of success and excellence that every child in Henry County deserves. Finally, I challenge you to be miracle worker everyday.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Educators are afraid of BYOD because they don't do it themselves
Recently, Cobb County's BYOD inititative made it into the AJC Get Schooled Blog moderated by Maureen Downey. The interesting part of the article wasn't the push in Cobb, which isn't new in the metro Atlanta area as Forsyth, Henry, and several others have similar initiatives, but rather the back lash that you read in the comments to the posting. The view overwhelmingly is that technology in the hands of kids will distract them and make it so they can't/won't learn in school. It makes me wonder whether that view comes from one of ignorance about what smartphones can do and how kids are comfortable using a phone or a tablet for work and play or whether it arises from a less conscious fear of becoming irrelevant. Ultimately, I think it is a lot of both.
I think the first part is really a lack of knowledge and experience with technology and that creates fear for educators. Can kids text each other answers and tweet about class? Yes. Are they already doing it? Most certainly, you just don't know about it because you aren't following any of your students. (some of you are lost with what the idea of "following" is and that highlights deeper issues.) Will kids use Facebook as a place to say mean things to others? Yes, they already are doing so, just like they are saying mean things in the cafeteria or the hallway. But, kids are also using Twitter and Facebook as places to share and collaborate on difficult homework problems they don't know how to do on their own. They are using microblogging and global publishing sites to put their essays, stories, and other writings out in the public domain for more than their teacher to read and critique. They are studying together, sharing ideas together, and building their own personal learning networks (PLNs) without the guidance and support of educators who could make that work and experience so much richer if they engaged in it.
Not only do schools need to allow and encourage BYOD initiatives, but the need to use and leverage mobile technologies in ways that support the educational goals and standards we want kids to meet in the Common Core and in life. Over and over again, business leaders tell school leaders that prospective employees need to be innovative, need to be problem solvers, and need to be able to communicate effectively via written communication. (email,etc.) Mobile technologies offer a way for schools to harness the power of a device in every student's hand and to do it at minimal cost to the district.
However, the technologies used must have a purpose in schools and in the lessons teachers craft. Teachers must consider using services like Poll Everywhere to create formative assessment feeds that inform their next steps in direct instruction in the classroom. They must ask students to do work that can't just be looked up on Google or Wikipedia. Teachers must become aware of Twitter and PLNs and Instagram and the thousands of websites kids access everyday. Instead of blocking out of fear, we need to learn how to use it ourselves so that we can teach kids the best ways to use technologies for productive learning. YouTube can offer thousands of videos to help learn how to do any number of activities and it offers hours of inspirational speeches and lectures. But right next to the TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson on creativity in schools there can be a link to a dancing flamingo. We must teach students how to wade through the millions of bits of information now at their fingertips and to make decisions about what is meaningful and important and supportive of learning. By blocking technology, by not engaging in it with them, we only teach them that there is a world out there that adults don't want you to see. As a teenager, that means there must be bad stuff and I got to get to it.
I strongly encourage you to get a Twitter account, if you don't have one and begin to follow educators around the world to learn how they are using technology effectively. Begin by connecting with someone you know and by looking at #edchat or #cpchat. Jump into the world your students are already engaged in and begin to change the way you integrate tech into your life.
I think the first part is really a lack of knowledge and experience with technology and that creates fear for educators. Can kids text each other answers and tweet about class? Yes. Are they already doing it? Most certainly, you just don't know about it because you aren't following any of your students. (some of you are lost with what the idea of "following" is and that highlights deeper issues.) Will kids use Facebook as a place to say mean things to others? Yes, they already are doing so, just like they are saying mean things in the cafeteria or the hallway. But, kids are also using Twitter and Facebook as places to share and collaborate on difficult homework problems they don't know how to do on their own. They are using microblogging and global publishing sites to put their essays, stories, and other writings out in the public domain for more than their teacher to read and critique. They are studying together, sharing ideas together, and building their own personal learning networks (PLNs) without the guidance and support of educators who could make that work and experience so much richer if they engaged in it.
Not only do schools need to allow and encourage BYOD initiatives, but the need to use and leverage mobile technologies in ways that support the educational goals and standards we want kids to meet in the Common Core and in life. Over and over again, business leaders tell school leaders that prospective employees need to be innovative, need to be problem solvers, and need to be able to communicate effectively via written communication. (email,etc.) Mobile technologies offer a way for schools to harness the power of a device in every student's hand and to do it at minimal cost to the district.
However, the technologies used must have a purpose in schools and in the lessons teachers craft. Teachers must consider using services like Poll Everywhere to create formative assessment feeds that inform their next steps in direct instruction in the classroom. They must ask students to do work that can't just be looked up on Google or Wikipedia. Teachers must become aware of Twitter and PLNs and Instagram and the thousands of websites kids access everyday. Instead of blocking out of fear, we need to learn how to use it ourselves so that we can teach kids the best ways to use technologies for productive learning. YouTube can offer thousands of videos to help learn how to do any number of activities and it offers hours of inspirational speeches and lectures. But right next to the TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson on creativity in schools there can be a link to a dancing flamingo. We must teach students how to wade through the millions of bits of information now at their fingertips and to make decisions about what is meaningful and important and supportive of learning. By blocking technology, by not engaging in it with them, we only teach them that there is a world out there that adults don't want you to see. As a teenager, that means there must be bad stuff and I got to get to it.
I strongly encourage you to get a Twitter account, if you don't have one and begin to follow educators around the world to learn how they are using technology effectively. Begin by connecting with someone you know and by looking at #edchat or #cpchat. Jump into the world your students are already engaged in and begin to change the way you integrate tech into your life.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Imp@ct
There is exciting work being done in our district. We have just announced the launch of Imp@ct Academy . This is our version of a full time virtual learning program. With this first foray into full time enrollment online learning, our district is poised to meet the individual needs of a large segment of disruptive innovators. We have decided that our best option that meets the needs of most kids is provide the opportunity to live in a blended world where students can take part in their education and academics online while still being "allowed" to be full time students at their home school. Through Imp@ct Academy, students enroll in those classes that they want to meet core requirements, electives, and other academic requirements. This isn't new and their are numerous examples of online academies throughout the state and nationwide. Imp@ct is unique in that we make it a program of choice and not a stand alone charter or virtual school. That allows students to participate in extracurriculars, athletics, and even some choice face to face instruction while taking the majority of their classload online. It is really about giving students and parents the opportunity to begin to tailor their instructional journey to their needs and desires. Bundling Imp@ct with the Academy for Advanced Studies and what it will become over the next two years means that students in Henry County now have the option to learn in the ways that work best for them, while taking a rigorous course load that will prepare them for college and careers. It a break through for public schools to be flexible, creative, and customizable.
We are blending F2F options with online options and allowing students to change the game for themselves. Now, you can play soccer at your home school, take 4 core courses online, take band at school, and then head over to the Academy for Advanced Studies to complete your pathway for culinary arts. Its an open campus model, a customizable educational model, a way to make learning work for kids and it is the right work.
It is so exciting to be in the midst of this game changing work where we design systems and programs that allow students' needs to be met utilizing technology, creativity, and a devotion that learning is the constant.
We are blending F2F options with online options and allowing students to change the game for themselves. Now, you can play soccer at your home school, take 4 core courses online, take band at school, and then head over to the Academy for Advanced Studies to complete your pathway for culinary arts. Its an open campus model, a customizable educational model, a way to make learning work for kids and it is the right work.
It is so exciting to be in the midst of this game changing work where we design systems and programs that allow students' needs to be met utilizing technology, creativity, and a devotion that learning is the constant.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Articulation
For the past 8 months, I have been involved in an amazing educational experiment where we through the use of edge technology, we have attempted to bring to scale high power instruction throughout our school. I have been tinkering around the edges of school improvement (thanks to Larry Cuban) as a middle school principal for the past seven years. We have tried all the traditional changes including schedule changes, teaming teacher differently, working through using coaches to improve instruction, and looking at the design of the school. Throughout all the tinkering, our focus more or less focused on ensuring there was good standards based instruction in the classrooms. We developed walkthroughs, did professional learning targeting areas that arose from observations and needs inventories. We looked at the PLC work and tried to take those parts of it that we liked. We tried to do Understanding by Design and took the parts that we like. We set a mission and vision and belief statements. Those have been consistent for us throughout the last five years and they all focused on mastery learning and our ambiguous definition of what that meant. We even put in place a pretty aggressive push for blended learning in all classrooms without any funding, without one to one computing, without a wireless environment, and without a significant amount of training on what is good instruction online and what isn't. Through it all, we did have one primary focus. We were going to teach kids from bell to bell everyday and we were going to do with an opening, a mini-lesson, student work time, and a closing. That expectation stayed throughout all the other initiatives that we played with. Then, along comes the opportunity to put some real structure and framing and consistency to the instructional design that ensured that there was tight task structure, that worked to decrease the cognitive load on my teachers, and that created changes to the instructional program that were proximal to students.
The project required us, as a cohort of volunteers and then as an entire school, to adopt a common lexicon. This shared language allowed us to talk about instruction using the same understanding about the work before us, but not making any assumptions. We hashed out our meaning as a school for what the lexicon truly meant. We agreed upon a task structure that was organized and tight and had common components that John Hattie and Bob Marzano have proven in meta-analysis after meta-analysis are high power strategies that make kids learn. Basically, we created a common schema around what we must accept as the tenets of good instruction and then the edge technology we use helps ensure that we do those parts in every lesson we engage students in doing. Its only take 8 months to do some really great work with our teachers. I have changed my views on blended learning and believe that its more about how we are using technology to help support individualized instruction for our students.
The project required us, as a cohort of volunteers and then as an entire school, to adopt a common lexicon. This shared language allowed us to talk about instruction using the same understanding about the work before us, but not making any assumptions. We hashed out our meaning as a school for what the lexicon truly meant. We agreed upon a task structure that was organized and tight and had common components that John Hattie and Bob Marzano have proven in meta-analysis after meta-analysis are high power strategies that make kids learn. Basically, we created a common schema around what we must accept as the tenets of good instruction and then the edge technology we use helps ensure that we do those parts in every lesson we engage students in doing. Its only take 8 months to do some really great work with our teachers. I have changed my views on blended learning and believe that its more about how we are using technology to help support individualized instruction for our students.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Starting another school year...
In a two weeks, teachers will be back at school doing all the regular getting ready for Open House and the first day things that we do before welcoming students on August 1. For the past three years, we have been attempting to create a blended learning environment for our students. We have pushed our teachers beyond their limits of creativity, technological savvy, and willingness to work with dated machines and a lack of training and knowledge. And they have risen to the challenge. They have created meaningful work for students in our LMS, they have learned to manage it well, and they have learned that there is power to using software that promotes and supports learning beyond the school day. They have also learned that limited resources truly limits what can be accomplished.
I have lamented on this blog before, how difficult it has been to implemented our version of a blended learning school when we have 60 laptops (20 of which don't really work and another 10 that are missing so many keys that they might as well not work) and one computer lab for teachers to show kids how to gain access to the LMS, what the work is, what it looks and feels like, and maybe even to do work on. It has been a mighty struggle to personalize education and to harness the power of an LMS and coursework and instruction that is digital and automated when kids can't get to it. Its been even more of a struggle trying to turn my dedicated teachers into developers. Our district doesn't have the funds to buy hardware and they surely don't have the funds or the will to buy content for our online course work beyond a great math intervention tool that is purchased for our special education students.
There is high hopes that we will be able to do more as the special purpose local option sales tax is floated to the community in November that we will raise the money to outfit schools with the basics needed to really start to fly. But, we aren't there yet.
As I watch the two symposia responsibility for assessment under RT3 and I watch our state DOE develop evaluation systems based on survey data and value added growth assessments and I watch the cheating scandal in Atlanta unfold, I am struck that technology could really provide efficient and effective tools to combat some of the logistical problems associated with all of those items. The discussions and cultural shifts that go along with the logistical issues are clearly leadership challenges that will push our ability to understand adult learning theory and change theory. But, many of the solutions that technology answers require their to be end user devices in the hands of the students and teachers. It requires their to be bandwidth to give students with those devices to access the Internet and the web-based tools they need to do the productive work of learning.
I am waiting for it....
I have lamented on this blog before, how difficult it has been to implemented our version of a blended learning school when we have 60 laptops (20 of which don't really work and another 10 that are missing so many keys that they might as well not work) and one computer lab for teachers to show kids how to gain access to the LMS, what the work is, what it looks and feels like, and maybe even to do work on. It has been a mighty struggle to personalize education and to harness the power of an LMS and coursework and instruction that is digital and automated when kids can't get to it. Its been even more of a struggle trying to turn my dedicated teachers into developers. Our district doesn't have the funds to buy hardware and they surely don't have the funds or the will to buy content for our online course work beyond a great math intervention tool that is purchased for our special education students.
There is high hopes that we will be able to do more as the special purpose local option sales tax is floated to the community in November that we will raise the money to outfit schools with the basics needed to really start to fly. But, we aren't there yet.
As I watch the two symposia responsibility for assessment under RT3 and I watch our state DOE develop evaluation systems based on survey data and value added growth assessments and I watch the cheating scandal in Atlanta unfold, I am struck that technology could really provide efficient and effective tools to combat some of the logistical problems associated with all of those items. The discussions and cultural shifts that go along with the logistical issues are clearly leadership challenges that will push our ability to understand adult learning theory and change theory. But, many of the solutions that technology answers require their to be end user devices in the hands of the students and teachers. It requires their to be bandwidth to give students with those devices to access the Internet and the web-based tools they need to do the productive work of learning.
We have a fairly well off district. We are not considered poor, although we are inching our way in that direction as the housing boom continues to send after-shocks from the fall out. We are better off than most in the State of Georgia. We have been good stewards of our dollars. There are one hundred other districts in Georgia in a similar or worse position. There are countless districts around the country who may have the will, but not the way to adopt technology tools that could really disrupt and innovate.
I am waiting for it....
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
The movement... thoughts on the National Charter Schools Conference.
Just finished with the general session on Day 2 of NCSC 2011 and feel definitely inspired by the key notes. Marian Wright Edelman and Doug Hense spoke eloquently, passionately, and intelligently about the role we play as educators in making the lives of children better. I was struck by the references to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and how the promises of Dr. King and the Freedom Riders are still there as promises and not so much as realities for so many American children. Although we have made great strides in opening schools to all children, in providing more equitable access to educational resources to all children, and to opening doors of opportunity, we have not done a satisfactory job of pushing the beliefs into children's minds that they must do better.
Its challenging to think of educators and schools where the belief is that only some kids will achieve. Its frustrating to believe that the view of so many who are so influential in the lives of students is that there are winners and losers in the game of life. I see so many that believe that motivation is the key to success and that kids are not motivated and that is where their failure is rooted. But, they don't ask the questions or worse yet, only rhetorically ask, why are the kids not motivated. Edelman told the story of a 12 year old black male student she spoke with in the DC schools in the days just after Dr. King's assassination who she was imploring to not but his future at risk and go out and loot and riot and get arrested. He looked in her eyes and said, "But, I ain't got no future, I have nothing to lose." He saw no reason to get an education, no reason to push through what could be the challenges of reading, math or history because the promise of segregation and walls he had no control over were all he saw. Today, those walls of law and tradition have been torn down, but the image of students still creating those walls in their minds persists.
Our role as leaders of schools, whether it is a grass roots charter in downtown Atlanta or a traditional school in the suburbs or a "failing" school in any city is to provide BOTH the motivation and the path by which kids can be successful. Schools must be a refuge for strength, sanity, routine, and success in the lives of so many kids that experience the opposite outside of schools. Schools and educators must be the influences that push kids to be more than they want to be.
There are many paths to success for schools. Best practices of good instruction breed success which breeds pride which breeds high expectations for students. Poor practices breed failure which breed excuses which lead to low expectations. The behaviors of successful schools and students create the mindsets of success. That is what you see in good private schools, good charter schools, good traditional schools. That is what is scalable and possible.
Its challenging to think of educators and schools where the belief is that only some kids will achieve. Its frustrating to believe that the view of so many who are so influential in the lives of students is that there are winners and losers in the game of life. I see so many that believe that motivation is the key to success and that kids are not motivated and that is where their failure is rooted. But, they don't ask the questions or worse yet, only rhetorically ask, why are the kids not motivated. Edelman told the story of a 12 year old black male student she spoke with in the DC schools in the days just after Dr. King's assassination who she was imploring to not but his future at risk and go out and loot and riot and get arrested. He looked in her eyes and said, "But, I ain't got no future, I have nothing to lose." He saw no reason to get an education, no reason to push through what could be the challenges of reading, math or history because the promise of segregation and walls he had no control over were all he saw. Today, those walls of law and tradition have been torn down, but the image of students still creating those walls in their minds persists.
Our role as leaders of schools, whether it is a grass roots charter in downtown Atlanta or a traditional school in the suburbs or a "failing" school in any city is to provide BOTH the motivation and the path by which kids can be successful. Schools must be a refuge for strength, sanity, routine, and success in the lives of so many kids that experience the opposite outside of schools. Schools and educators must be the influences that push kids to be more than they want to be.
There are many paths to success for schools. Best practices of good instruction breed success which breeds pride which breeds high expectations for students. Poor practices breed failure which breed excuses which lead to low expectations. The behaviors of successful schools and students create the mindsets of success. That is what you see in good private schools, good charter schools, good traditional schools. That is what is scalable and possible.
Monday, June 20, 2011
20 minutes to boot up and Icloud...
We have this old computer, by old I mean nearly 10 years, that sits upstairs in the office that we rarely use now that we have wifi and laptops. This old e-machine takes 20 minutes to load because I haven't run anti-virus on it in 2 years as it only gets booted up when we find a song we thought we had purchased through Itunes is saved on it or if there is a document we neglected to transfer when backing it up to thumb drives.
Last night, I had to boot it up because my wife got a new Iphone 4 for her birthday and her original Iphone information is synced to the old geezer machine. So I trudge up there, bringing the modem and wifi router with me that is normally downstairs to provide better coverage in the parts of the house we use. Of course, the desktops have no wireless so I have to hard wire it into the modem to be able to get to Itunes to be able to make sure that the sync is done correctly on the old phone so we don't lose anything.
As I am waiting for the machine to boot up, I start reading on my lap top about iCloud and I get really excited that all this syncing to the old geezer may be a thing of the past. As I am reading about it, I am syncing the old Iphone 3 that is now my son's Ipod Touch with my new laptop and I have my Iphone next to me and my work BlackBerry next to that. So there I am with 4 smartphones, a lap top and two desk top computers and I realize that maybe I need a break.
Not that iCloud is the best thing ever, but it did all the sudden allow us to sync my wife's new Iphone 4 without having to plug it into a computer. We got her music, her contacts, her videos, and her apps without any hassle. The pictures haven't worked yet, but it was a blessing. I got to boot down old Bessie and maybe never have to boot her up again. It will be said to say goodbye to the machine that built so many memories with digital pics of my sons first 2 years and our first 4 years of marriage, but I won't miss the 20 minutes it takes to get to them.
Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there...
Last night, I had to boot it up because my wife got a new Iphone 4 for her birthday and her original Iphone information is synced to the old geezer machine. So I trudge up there, bringing the modem and wifi router with me that is normally downstairs to provide better coverage in the parts of the house we use. Of course, the desktops have no wireless so I have to hard wire it into the modem to be able to get to Itunes to be able to make sure that the sync is done correctly on the old phone so we don't lose anything.
As I am waiting for the machine to boot up, I start reading on my lap top about iCloud and I get really excited that all this syncing to the old geezer may be a thing of the past. As I am reading about it, I am syncing the old Iphone 3 that is now my son's Ipod Touch with my new laptop and I have my Iphone next to me and my work BlackBerry next to that. So there I am with 4 smartphones, a lap top and two desk top computers and I realize that maybe I need a break.
Not that iCloud is the best thing ever, but it did all the sudden allow us to sync my wife's new Iphone 4 without having to plug it into a computer. We got her music, her contacts, her videos, and her apps without any hassle. The pictures haven't worked yet, but it was a blessing. I got to boot down old Bessie and maybe never have to boot her up again. It will be said to say goodbye to the machine that built so many memories with digital pics of my sons first 2 years and our first 4 years of marriage, but I won't miss the 20 minutes it takes to get to them.
Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there...
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
PLCs and Technology
Our district is jumping into the world of PLCs and working to try and get each school to create in itself a PLC and then expand those beyond the walls of building. As we work to join the movement that started over a decade ago, it makes me wonder how we will be able to push ourselves into that world more quickly using technology and Web 2.0 tools. We are struggling to find our own digital footprint as a district and to determine what we are going to be on the web and how we are going to leverage the power of the web to help our students demonstrate mastery learning. We are currently, probably like many districts, inching our towards it. It is my hope that we can begin to really push. Our school has been trying to create blended learning classrooms for our students with very limited infrastructure, training, support, or financial backing and have seen tremendous gains in the achievement of our students through our efforts.
Not only is the blended learning helping to personalize the work for kids, it has begun the process of helping to make our instruction public. One of the key tenets of the PLC work by Eaker and Dufour,etc. is to talk about instruction and learning as a public enterprise that involves several professionals working in conjunction to meet all the needs of the students in our community. It is about being public with the work we ask of students, the teaching moves we make, the questions we plan to ask, and the ways that we make decisions in class to maximize learning for our students. The blended learning model we put in place has made teacher-developers out of our staff as they are creating all the content for their classes. In order to tackle the overwhelming task of creating content, they have been forced to collaborate in new ways and been forced to review each other's work. We are looking at the work we are asking kids to engage in, but we are not yet at the point where we truly working collaboratively to meet all the needs of each of our kids.
It is exciting and engaging work that requires a lot of change, a lot of paradigm shifting, and a lot of loss of the old ways of doing things for our staff and faculty. But it is the right work and the right shift and it will ultimately be the way that we meet the needs of our students and push them to be able to demonstrate mastery in all their work.
Come along.
Not only is the blended learning helping to personalize the work for kids, it has begun the process of helping to make our instruction public. One of the key tenets of the PLC work by Eaker and Dufour,etc. is to talk about instruction and learning as a public enterprise that involves several professionals working in conjunction to meet all the needs of the students in our community. It is about being public with the work we ask of students, the teaching moves we make, the questions we plan to ask, and the ways that we make decisions in class to maximize learning for our students. The blended learning model we put in place has made teacher-developers out of our staff as they are creating all the content for their classes. In order to tackle the overwhelming task of creating content, they have been forced to collaborate in new ways and been forced to review each other's work. We are looking at the work we are asking kids to engage in, but we are not yet at the point where we truly working collaboratively to meet all the needs of each of our kids.
It is exciting and engaging work that requires a lot of change, a lot of paradigm shifting, and a lot of loss of the old ways of doing things for our staff and faculty. But it is the right work and the right shift and it will ultimately be the way that we meet the needs of our students and push them to be able to demonstrate mastery in all their work.
Come along.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Reformation or Revolution
After reading Tribes and putting the drive and inspiration that Godin suggests to work, I was reminded of the work of Sir Ken Robinson. He came to speak at our district leadership seminar about three years ago and I was struck by his focused talk on how schools are killing creativity. At the time, it seemed that the district would head in a new direction and that perhaps this work was going to push us there. But, budget woes took hold of our district, as I am sure it has many others, and constrained our thinking to staying alive. I see the budget constraints as a time and opportunity to think differently about how we deliver basic services to students, when we deliver them, and why. Instead of working to minimize the losses, lets think differently about what the purpose of schooling is and why we do it the way we do. Let's monopolize on the structure, flexibility, and accountability that online learning offers students and districts. Let's look differently as seat time vs. mastery learning and jump into it.
We can start slowly, by filling the voids that have no services. In Georgia, at least in our area, that void is really around meeting the needs of accelerated students who don't really know they aren't getting what they could. We already do a job at meeting the needs of strugglers. We even use online learning for summer school and credit recovery programs at the high school level. But, we have not even begun to think well about how we can push students to accelerate their learning. If we could develop a course of study for, say 6th grade Language Arts, that was aligned with the curriculum and had students do enough higher level thinking work within the modules in the course and students could finish it in 4 days a week, why not let them have the fifth day off. This provides a time for students who need extra time with the teacher to have it in class with smaller class sizes, but still funding at the same levels. For those parents that don't want their child at home, we provide extension/extra-curricular/interdisciplinary work. It is the time to do those activities all teachers want to do but feel like they shouldn't because of the looming state test.
You could change the way schools operate on both ends.
We can start slowly, by filling the voids that have no services. In Georgia, at least in our area, that void is really around meeting the needs of accelerated students who don't really know they aren't getting what they could. We already do a job at meeting the needs of strugglers. We even use online learning for summer school and credit recovery programs at the high school level. But, we have not even begun to think well about how we can push students to accelerate their learning. If we could develop a course of study for, say 6th grade Language Arts, that was aligned with the curriculum and had students do enough higher level thinking work within the modules in the course and students could finish it in 4 days a week, why not let them have the fifth day off. This provides a time for students who need extra time with the teacher to have it in class with smaller class sizes, but still funding at the same levels. For those parents that don't want their child at home, we provide extension/extra-curricular/interdisciplinary work. It is the time to do those activities all teachers want to do but feel like they shouldn't because of the looming state test.
You could change the way schools operate on both ends.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Change Agents
In a recent conversation with a parent whose children attend my school, the book "Tribes" by Seth Godin came up. I picked up and have started reading through it. Its really a book about inspiring people to be innovative leaders in areas that are what Clay Christianson and Michael Horn have called disruptive innovations. The basic premise is that we are all part of different tribes and that the internet has allowed those tribes to not be constrained by time or geography. But the kicker is not just being a member of a tribe, but rather gaining credibility and becoming a leader of those tribes so that you can move out of the muddle and be amazing. The vignettes in the book speak of members of corporations and communities who have taken ideas and spread them and fertilized them and nurtured them into existence and allowed them to flourish. It is about influence, power, and innovation and that leadership is really about harnessing the tools to rally folks to an idea and then give those who follow the ability to flourish with freedom. None of the ideas are really new ones or groundbreaking from other leadership texts I have been exposed to, but the tone and energy is definitely spirited and designed to enthuse and inspire.
I mention this in this blog because I would like to have our push to build a blended learning environment inspire our staff and faculty to be leaders of a new tribe of teachers who are not constrained by budgetary constraints or bureacracy and are able to push out and expand the possibilities of individualizing instruction and learning for students. As Michael Horne writes in his blogs at the Innosight Institute and how he highlighted in a recent open letter to Massachusetts Secretary of Education, setting up barriers to blocking the improvement of online learning and access and funding for students is a no win situation. It merely maintains a system that relies on the social contract tacitly agreed to by schools and parents that we will provide a safe orderly day care environment for your child so that you can go to work from 8-4 and if your lucky, we will educate your kids a little along the way. The prevalent thinking is that they will get educated if they want to learn, if they work hard at it, and if they learn in the ways and pace that adults, who have different degrees of investment in the process, set. We also all agree that mastery of any content or skill level isn't really that important as long as the "grades" are good and my child doesn't get in any big trouble. It extends to say that we would really like our child to go to a good university or college when they are old enough to no longer need the supervision schools provide. This link to a blog posting from Innosight talks about the how the structure of school supports this social contract.
Now, that view highlights the more cynical parts of the institution of public schools in America, but if we are honestly examining ourselve, we realize that it isn't really that far off from reality. Seth Godin's book would suggest that those who want to move away from this social contract schools have entered into and create a new one could be leaders of the Tribes. The power of his book is that tribe leaders come from anywhere and can be at any level of an organization. Who will be the leaders of these tribes?
I mention this in this blog because I would like to have our push to build a blended learning environment inspire our staff and faculty to be leaders of a new tribe of teachers who are not constrained by budgetary constraints or bureacracy and are able to push out and expand the possibilities of individualizing instruction and learning for students. As Michael Horne writes in his blogs at the Innosight Institute and how he highlighted in a recent open letter to Massachusetts Secretary of Education, setting up barriers to blocking the improvement of online learning and access and funding for students is a no win situation. It merely maintains a system that relies on the social contract tacitly agreed to by schools and parents that we will provide a safe orderly day care environment for your child so that you can go to work from 8-4 and if your lucky, we will educate your kids a little along the way. The prevalent thinking is that they will get educated if they want to learn, if they work hard at it, and if they learn in the ways and pace that adults, who have different degrees of investment in the process, set. We also all agree that mastery of any content or skill level isn't really that important as long as the "grades" are good and my child doesn't get in any big trouble. It extends to say that we would really like our child to go to a good university or college when they are old enough to no longer need the supervision schools provide. This link to a blog posting from Innosight talks about the how the structure of school supports this social contract.
Now, that view highlights the more cynical parts of the institution of public schools in America, but if we are honestly examining ourselve, we realize that it isn't really that far off from reality. Seth Godin's book would suggest that those who want to move away from this social contract schools have entered into and create a new one could be leaders of the Tribes. The power of his book is that tribe leaders come from anywhere and can be at any level of an organization. Who will be the leaders of these tribes?
Friday, July 9, 2010
Building Content
With money and funding being an issue, we have decided that building our own content is the most cost efficient way to implement online/blended learning. I am beginning to wonder whether its really the best way to get teachers to use the technology. Our staff is becoming curriculum developers, technology developers, and the best at building content, but I am not sure that work is going to translate clearly into the classroom and using the technology because they will be tired and worn out. Having content that you can adapt, adjust, and customize would be a better way than starting from scratch and having to build it up. There are resources that are open source for some of it, but its tough to put together lessons that align with the state curriculum and make use of engaging, rigorous, high level work that kids can do both digitally and in the classroom. The shift we are making is towards more personalized learning, but it is tough to build it from the bottom up. Its become clear that the power of online learning is embedded in the quality production of good lessons, good units, and good work for students to do so they can demonstrate mastery. Simply having a flash movie or a link to United Streaming or a good powerpoint with notes isn't enough. The kids have to work that requires demonstration of mastery.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Why would you blend f2f and online learning for your teachers?
Besides the obvious benefits of time management and giving teachers the professional courtesy to respect their ability to work on their own craft at their own pace, there are several more reasons to consider using a blended learning model for your staff. At our school, we are working through the problems of establishing a blended learning environment for our students. It is a challenge for our teachers, many of whom have never had an online course and who approach Web 2.0 applications with abject fear at worst and with impatient trepidation at best. They are working to build courses that provide multiple pathways to mastery learning through the use of diagnostic pre-tests, formative check point assessments, and performance tasks as culminating activities. While learning how to use the technology tools available to them, they are also being forced to change the way they teach in their classroom. It is precisely because we are forcing them to change the way they teach that we must model the instructional model for them so that they can experience it as students. If we teach teachers to use a learning management system and an online course to augment their instruction by showing them powerpoints in collaborative planning meetings and expecting them to make the leap in their own practice, then we are hypocritical at best and probably destroying the initiatives from the top down. If we want teachers to change their practice, we must change the way they experience learning. We must use a blended learning approach for teachers if we want a blended learning approach to work for our students.
Leading Blended Learning
As a middle school principal in suburban Atlanta, it has been exciting to be engaged in leading our school in a blended learning initiative that includes an online course blended with face to face instruction in every single academic classroom. We have learned so much in our first year about how to best integrate the Learning Management System, about the limitations we have in time and resources, and how frustrating it can be when not all your systems are integrated. I hope this blog will be a place to discuss what we learn, to hear from others with their experiences, and maybe even a place to push my own ideas out there. With iste wrapped up for the year and the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year right around the corner, there is so much to do.
Our school has chosen, both as a cost savings on the front end and to help us control the content, to build our own courses from scratch. We utilize ANGEL as our LMS and we have had to largely train ourselves on how to use the tools of ANGEL. It is not the best way to do to it, but I would rather be crawling forward than sitting still and we had to use what was available to us. Of course, I believe that if we had ready made content that teachers could integrate as different modules into their own courses, they would use it more often and more efficiently, but the dollars don't add up and therefore we have to create, find, and build all of our own courses.
It does serve as a model for other schools, though, on how to integrate 21st century tools without all the money, resources, hardware, and/or software that you want.
Our school has chosen, both as a cost savings on the front end and to help us control the content, to build our own courses from scratch. We utilize ANGEL as our LMS and we have had to largely train ourselves on how to use the tools of ANGEL. It is not the best way to do to it, but I would rather be crawling forward than sitting still and we had to use what was available to us. Of course, I believe that if we had ready made content that teachers could integrate as different modules into their own courses, they would use it more often and more efficiently, but the dollars don't add up and therefore we have to create, find, and build all of our own courses.
It does serve as a model for other schools, though, on how to integrate 21st century tools without all the money, resources, hardware, and/or software that you want.
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